Archive for the ‘Government and Politics’ Category

Brilliant post by James Altucher, one of my favorite entrepreneurs to read: Why I’m Not Running for Congress. It’s really a sad statement about how politics works. I love his talking points and arguments about how to fix the gov’t.

There are a few government control concerns that have been in the news recently. It’s really quite amazing that “we the people” are allowing government at every level to encroach on freedoms as we sit around watching it happen. Sometimes we chirp out and complain, mostly we just shake our head, or bury it in the sand.

Big Government is taking freedoms and liberties. As you give them to the government you give other things.

I can only hope that the quantity of ridiculous power grabs (by the government from the people… anyone see anything wrong with that???) will get to a point that even the pollyanna types can say “wait a minute… is this really happening? Maybe I should really do something.”

It might be too late, though, by that time.

Here are a few examples of what I’m referring to:

The IRS targeted people who were politically active. Not illegal to be politically active, is it? I hear the IRS is going to be heavily involved in administrating Obamacare (since it is a tax)… so the people who work for us, but are aggressively penalizing people for exercising constitutional rights, will now have their hand in our health care like never before. Scary. Yeah, there’s a lot of debate about ObamaCare (aka, the “Affordable” Care Act). These comments are common and intriguing. This article is scary. And with comments by Pelosi about passing an doomed plan, with a lot of pork and crap in it, without reading it but we “have to pass the bill so we can find out what is in it,” I can’t believe she is still in office (and gets reelected!).

The NSA is collecting every conversation you haveon the phone, including voice and text, as well as emails and most likely social networking as well as internet history (sites you go to). But they won’t snoop, or look at what you are doing, unless you are a terrorist, or not a U.S. Citizen. Um, yeah, like I believe they will respect the privacy. Keep your head in the sand, folks.

The Common Core (which has to do with education) is being used as a big stick to make states adopt the next level of No Child Left Behind (because that works so well). States adopting it will get federal money. That is not “forcing,” but it is THE incentive to march to the pied piper (check out the second definition: “2. A person who entices people to follow them, esp. to their doom.” Before you blindly adopt what your state is enthusiastically pushing, check out the cons on sites like this. Want your kid to have DNA tests illegally? It happened in Park City, Utah (no reference). Want your kid to share information that is private, illegally, with the government on tests like the ACT and SAT? It is happening right now. Wake up. Follow the money before you blindly trust your politicians.

Lobbyists are keeping you from doing things that are self-sustaining, like owning chickens… even in a farming community like Burley, ID. I know there are arguments that have to do with disease (mostly to other chickens), and noise (which have more to do with roosters than egg-producing chickens)… but seriously. It used to be illegal to collect rainwater in Utah. People have been fined because of their gardens. Seriously, folks… lobbyist are POWERFUL even at the local level. Just because a law passes doesn’t mean it was for your best interest. Lobbyists make a lot of money to represent… THE COMPANY THAT PAYS THEM. And busy politicians sometimes let lobbyists sway them. There goes more of your personal freedom.

I don’t believe the Fed Gov’t should fix all the problems, but take note of this article: FEMA denies aid for Texas fertilizer plant blast. Don’t think that the IRS, or the new federal doctor panels (aka death panels?) are going to act differently. Maybe the fertilizer plant problem doesn’t affect you but when it is your kid or sibling or parent or loved one, and the ObamaCare deciders “deny aid” … how are you going to feel? You can’t give them the authority to do things all-thing-healthcare for you and your family but then complain when they decide contrary to what you think they should do.